It’s sad to agree, that I grew up with movies and music clips, telling me how Mexico is supposed to look like. I’ve always been highly intrigued by the mexican culture, curious about their cuisine, and kinda liked some of the mexican music. Until recently I had no clue about Mexico City, however I was convinced that culturaly-wise it would easily beat Cancun, Tijuana or any other major tourist spot in México.
I still remember how amazed I was, when I was visiting San Francisco in 2015, and showing up at the concert of the band “Big big love”, who were based in Mexico City. An amazing concert, I was blown away. And still they didn’t sound like a traditional marriachi band or gangster rap music. The Mission district in San Francisco is also heavily influenced by the latino culture.
Getting my 4th tattoo by Indio Reyes, a tattoo artist from Guadalajara (after 10 years I finally figured out how to pronounce the name correctly), will always remain a great memory. During the tattoo session we were chatting about mexican gangster movies, and he told me his personal experiences of the rough life in Mexico.
And still …. I’d never had a clue what was going on in Mexico. Is Mexico really that rough? Is it as dangerous as pictured in the movies?
Prior my departure, people from work, were asking me, what the hell I was supposed to do in Mexico City for a week. That I should watch my back every second, and I should avoid to get into trouble. Super annoying…
Long story, cut short…. Mexico City was worth the trip! Every single day was quite unique, and we didn’t fell bored, even after 7 days.
Foreword.
The only thing that kind of bothered me, was the fact, that I didn’t want to attract the attention of the locals with my camera. As a foreigner, depending where you are visiting in Mexico, you’re the Gringo. The Gringo is supposed to carry the money, and living a wealthy life.
The locals at the Taco booth, are working their ass off, preparing the most delicious tacos, for less than a dollar. So in my own opinion, it wouldn’t be welcoming or fair, if I would stick my camera in front of their nose, and doing my thing with my photo-gear… I would have loved to take more shots, more clips…however out of respect, I stayed in stealth mode during this trip to avoid any trouble with my camera.
Tepito on the first day.
We were staying at City Centro Hotel, which was a pretty cool hotel. It was mixture of art house meets gothic church. Definitely a must-stay for people who like to take fancy photos of the hotel or portraits of their loved ones. The decor and the light was perfect for photo shootings.
The location was perfect as well, as it was in the very center of the historical district, just minutes away from Zacalõ.
Like already mentioned, we didn’t know much about the city. So after leaving the hotel on the first morning, we went to the world famous main square called Zacalo, and went to El Cardenal for breakfast. We didn’t expect something as fancy… we were threated like kings & queens. We paid for a fullbreakfast for 2 people in a fancy place 15$. And their housemade chocolate milk was the best I ever had.
After breakfast, we blindly walked up north, through the colorful alleys and followed the street markets along the way. While walking through the middle of the markets, an older lady pushed me, and showed me with her hand to hide my camera, that was hanging down my shoulder. Without understanding her words, she made me aware that it wouldn’t be the best place to show off a camera.
Minutes later I checked google maps, and I figured out, that we landed in Tepito. I’ve read about that neighbourhood, before making the trip, as I was intrigued to visit it, because it was known for being one of the roughest neighbourhoods in the City of Mexico. Tepito is also called “Barrio Bravo”, translated it means “the brave hood”. I was glad that we made it to Tepito, but on the other side, I also hesitated to take photos of people. After walking through the markets of the “barrio bravo”, we felt more and more relaxed, as the locals were rather kind and welcoming. We had some fresh fruits, a taco, some drinks.. spent some pesos on stuff, no one needs… and we felt happy to be in Mexico.
The markets are like a maze… they are endless, and it’s pretty hard to find your way out of it. As we managed to get out of Tepito, we discovered two more markets.
Our first day consisted of markets, fresh fruits and tacos. Not too bad.
Was Tepito rough ? Nope, not during the day…
Would I recommend it? Yes.
Would I go back after 10pm? Nope.
Markets, Markets, Markets…
When you think you’ve seen it all before, Mexico City definitely breaks the records of street markets, they are numerous, they are endless, and they are just anywhere. The first one we visited was "Mercado de Artesanías La Ciudadela”, a local market where they sell all kind of crafts and clothes. A paradise of souvenir shops. We easily lost track of time and spent more than 3 hours.
La Merced Mercado
Tepito Mercado
Coyoacan Mercado
These 3 were among the ones we visited. And they were huge.. we mostly got lost. Never the less, each of them were fun to visit, mainly because you’re trying every time to discover a hidden gem to buy among all the stalls. They sell everything from clothes to lucha libre masks, from fruits to savoury tacos, from animals to meat, from booze to juices… there’s nothing you can’t find at the “mercado”.
Lively during the day, dead at night.
We arrived around 11pm in Mexico city. After passing the customs and immigration, it only took us 15-18 minutes to reach downtown, we were surprise how deserted and dark the alleys were. Our taxi driver had a hard time finding the hotel, … most parts of the streets were literally dead, there wasn’t a soul out there.
The next morning as we were leaving the hotel at 9 am, the streets carried some moving early birds, but still not the busy life that we expected in Mexico. Passing 11 o’clock, the city exploded. You had to wait in line to get a juice or a taco at your favorite street food-booth. The sidewalks were full of people… this went on til around 7 or 8 pm, and then everybody seemed to vanish. This was pretty unusual for a big city.
Depending on the area, the park next to the “palacio postal” was always busy, even until very late at night. The main pedestrian shopping street next to Zacalò was also very busy until midnight. However most of the restaurants or mobile taquerias started shutting their business between 9 and 10 pm. It wasn’t like in Asia, were night markets attract the crowds until passed midnight… Numerous times we had a hard time finding food, if we wouldn’t leave early enough for dinner.
The weekend was different obviously. Mexico City seemed way more busy on a Friday or Saturday night.
UBER, über alles...
The good thing about Mexico City, there’s a free-wifi-spot almost around every main crossing or corner. Is it any beneficial to your instagram addiciton…nope, but it’s very helpful to call an UBER without having a local data simcard on your phone. Once you requested an UBER, you’re good to go. You don’t need any internet connection after the driver has picked you up. Later when you turn back to your hotel, you can add any tip to the fares if you feel like.
One day we requested an UBER from the historical district to the Floating Gardens of Xochimilco. It took us 50 minutes to reach it, and we only paid 12$. The fare to the airport would be 7-8 $ depending on the time you’re requesting the ride.
This means, UBER makes your life easier in Mexico, and you don’t need a sim card to use it.
Just as a side notice… almost none of the drivers spoke a word of English.
Floating Gardens of Xochimilco
It sounds weird, driving for 50 minutes in car to jump on a colorful boat, to float down a canal. But the experience was quite satisfying. As it was kind of different than the Allepey Backwaters that we experienced in India or the Bangkok river floats. What made it different in Mexico? Obviously the shape and the colors of the boats… they had a unique design we haven’t witnessed before.
The coolest part I guess, were the Marriacchis literally jumping onto your boat and playing mexican folk music, all dressed up in their beautiful Mexican tuxedos. They would play a song for 6-7$, as a group of 5-6 musicians. Sadly our musicians were playing right next to our boat.
We were one of the few tourists on the floating boats. Many mexican people were renting the boat for a 2 hour ride, and they would bring their own food or booze, and have a proper lunch with their closed ones. All the people were having a hell of a time…eating, singing and even dancing on the boat. The one hour tour would cost 500 pesos (25$ per boat). So splitting it by 4-6 people, gets you a pretty fair deal for 120 minutes of a hell of a time.
Nature wise it’s less impressive than the backwaters in India, however compared to Bangkok, it’s definitely nicer (and cleaner), however the presence of the temples in Bangkok made it all worth it again.
The Mexico City experience
What are the absolute must-sees in the city? Well you can’t compare Mexico City to New York, San Francisco or Los Angeles… but you could rather compare it to an amazing European capital city. It’s not the major tourists spots that are crazy interesting in CDMX, but rather the diversity of the city.
Every neighbourhood, kinda looks the same, but still different and unique at the same time. Each block of the city has its own kind of shops. One whole area is mainly selling music equipment, so consider it to be very loud and noisy. The following neighborhood, would mainly sell bathroom equipment, less crowded and a lot calmer. The hood before that, would mainly sell art-tools like paper, colors and brushes.
The shops will change from area to area, and so do the murals (street art) and people on the street.
In every area, you will find something that might catch your interest; be it a cool bar, a unique restaurant, a popular taco-truck, a park… there’s always something to do, where ever you’re walking.
This would one of our typical daytime routines:
we get out of the hotel, walk towards Zacalo. On the way there’s an amazing bakery Pasteleria Ideal, that works as a self-service and offers a wide diversity of pastries. After getting some sweets, next stop would be a take away coffee, from one of the many coffee shops (coffee was mostly good!)
walking towards the San Juan Market, we would have many options for a juice, fresh fruits, or just any kind of food. In front of the San Juan Market, there was the Fatasma Taco truck, where you could meet and greet a well know luchador (wrestler), who was always wearing his lucha libre mask.
walking east, you would make it to the barrio chino (chinatown) and move on to the very top of the Torre Latinoamericana (the top deck of a sky scraper).
walking up north you could check out one of the mercados, pass the Mexico Arena of the main wrestling stadium and move on to the shopping Area of ROMA (north or south)
Any directions you turn, there are always many options to check out. Shopping wise you can get anything you want, it feels pretty much like the US. And the look of the streets reminded so many time about LA.
LUCHA LIBRE on a Friday night.
Watching a mexican wrestling show, called Lucha Libre, was definitely on my to-do list, or maybe even on a bucket-list. We’ve all seen it on tv, Nacho Libre happened to be an epic comedy about the lucha, however none of my friends has ever been to a wrestling show.
Twice or sometimes even three times a week, you get the chance to enjoy the entertainment at the “Arena Mexico”. You can buy the tickets right in front of the arena, and the price range varey from 10-40$. We took the mid price ticket, which was around 20$. Our daughter didn’t have to pay for the entrance. And we managed to get a great view in the 8th or 9th row, in front of the ring.
Even though I’m so not a fan of american wrestling shows, Lucha Libre turned out to be really cool, and very impressive. The athletes put on such an amazing show, that it’s really hard to believe, that it’s just a show, and not a real fight. In my opinion, the mexican wrestlers are way more athletic and acrobatic than their american colleagues.
After entering the arena, an older gentleman lead us to our seat, and obviously he asked for a tip, and he wouldn’t leave until you handed him some pesos. Buying a soda, the seller, who was standing in-between the rows, told you “here's your change, and the 1$ is for me”, they took the tip without even asking. We didn’t care at all, but some tourists got really pissed, as you’re just “another gringo” with money for them.
The show was worth every pesos. Sadly we didn’t stay until the end, because our 11 months old daughter, was less fascinated by the show than we were. Outside the arena they sold all kinds of lucha merchandise. You’ get a shirt for 8$, a lot less than in a shop.
Definitely a night to remember!
Last hours in Mexico City
So after having visited most of our hotspots on our wishlist, we visited the colorful kiosk "Alameda de Santa María”, located a short taxi ride away from the city center. The kiosk is part of the Alameda Park. It’s a peaceful area, nothing to exciting, but definitely a cool spot to take some photos of your family or friends. The details, patterns, and colors of the construction are quite impressive.
Following the visit to the park, we were looking forward to witness the incredible library “Biblioteca Vasconcelos”. The inside of the building, considering what we’ve read and seen online, looks like a highly modern building taken out from a sci-fi movie. Sadly due to the pandemic, the library was temporary closed.
We’ve seen a lot of things in Mexico’s capital. I’m pretty sure that we haven’t seen it all. However as we were traveling with a one year old baby, we were glad that we could enjoy all these beautiful places, with summerish temperatures during the day, great food, and millions of colors around us.
We decided that we would make it back next year, and hopefully our daughter will be more cooperative with longer drives, as we would opt for a roadtrip. Mexico we really liked you!
